1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicles and methods of electric standing personal mobility transporter vehicle for transporting individuals, mostly with prolong walk inability, or total inability to walk, but can stand, and more particularly, to a two-part, compact, lightweight, portable, leverless vehicle and methods of connecting two major parts of the vehicle with a two-part telescopic box fit mechanism, and a rear wheels hydraulic brake system activated by a foot (pedal) lever.
2. The Prior Art
According to a published research, more than seventy million American have prolong walk inability, or total inability to walk, due to numerous medical condition associated with osteoarthritis, disability and for some other medical and health issues, whereby as much as 750,000 (estimated) individuals undergo knee and hip replacement every year. In addition, millions others have limited prolong walk or total inability to walk, due to other, numerous, medical conditions. For the purpose of this invention, all such millions individuals are included in the category of ‘limited prolong walk’. Such identified category significantly distinguishes this invention from other PMV and scooters.
Therefore, it should be clarified, as obvious now, that still many people have disability to the extent that they must be confined to a wheelchair (when using it) to move from place to place. These people are excluded from the group of users of this new invention, because they will not be able to use it due to sever medical condition and disability.
The technology of personal transporter means, from the old manual wheelchairs through advanced medical and leisure personal transporters and scooters, had significantly accelerated during the past two decades, to electric or gas powered transporters, slow, or extremely fast. Thus, from one hand, we recognize the “old” simple, two large wheels wheelchair, unpowered, which is still in use for many reasons, to the most advanced personal mobility vehicles (hereinafter PMV), such as the one which is known as the Segway, and others, having speed as high as 40 MPH or even more. The old, manual wheelchairs were replaced with electric PMV's, such as one presented in early days in U.S. Pat. No. 2,482,203, providing an electric scooter, followed by improved PMV's such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,187 from 1993. Specifically, said patent objective intended to improve heavy, bulky PMV's for use mostly by people who are confined to the PMV's and wheelchairs, when used, as the disability is severe. On the same year, 1993, a U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,636 was issued introducing yet more improvements of similar PMV's used by severely medically impaired people, as a sitting PMV.
On the other hand, the most advanced PMV, including the Segway and alike, are fast moving PMV's, requesting extreme control and balance by the rider, and often skills not many have, to control and operate such high speed PMV's. In fact, the Segway developers, after defying physic, in general, have been constantly adding improvements to the original Segway, whereby U.S. patents and applications has been known, such as one of the recent application, Publication No. 2008-0105471. However, those high speed PMV's do not make it possible for many people to maintain extreme balance and control, nor enabling driving fast. Thus, only a limited population group may be potential user for these types of PMV's, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,302, and others listed later. In no way any of the persons, subject to using the invention presented here, can use any of those advanced, mostly leisure, but also commercial, PMV's.
Still dealing with prior art technology, which is used here to prove why these technologies and these apparatus should be excluded from use for the category of population this new invention is dealing with, the Segway and PMV's alike show a common characteristics and features which are extreme backdraws and bear adverse results compare to the new invention presented here. Note that the most common used electric personal transporter for those people with total inability to walk, or with prolong walk limitation, is known as an “electric scooter” or “electric wheelchair”, AKA, PMV, normally a three-wheel vehicle, extremely heavy, relatively inflexible, and complicated to handle. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,570,739; 4,750,578; 4,947,955. Note that these type of PMV's have been constantly subject to improvements and patent filing, so that even in 2009, a Publication 2009-0255747 provided yet another improvements, as a standing PMV, to be discussed later.
In addition, Segway, like other fast moving PMV's, became more as a commercial transporter used by professionals such as police officers, security guards and mail carriers, or by sport lovers, who use such PMV's for leisure. This is critical distinguish for the purpose of the new invention to be fully addressed in the summary portion.
Therefore, in advancing the technology era, more patents were issued for such advanced PMV's, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,230 B1, which was generally invented by the same group of inventors of the Segway. Said latter patent presents an automatically balancing vehicle with a headroom monitor, which determines velocity differences with alarm, producing a warning when the headroom falls below a specified limit.
Since fast moving scooters in the category of the Segway became attraction for inventors, other similar Segway's were invented for the same purposes, such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,192,040 B2 by a prominent Chinese engineer, Mr. Shouvhum Xie. [It should be stated, with great pride, that Mr. Xie was kind enough to assist in making the first prototype of the invention presented here.] Said patent U.S. Pat. No. 7,192,040 provides Segway type improvements, one of which is rocking structure with the first portion and the second portion rotating around an axis; However, it serves as the same purpose as the other types of such vehicles, or scooters, with high speed. The point is that numerous improvements of this category of PMV's should not undermine improvements of standing, three-wheel PMV for use by a different category of people, and by different usage and purposes.
In further developments and added features related to the prior art, several patents were issued for features of other PMV's, which, despite the patents granted, simply show more disadvantages, such as portable heavy PMV's (mostly related to PMV's used by people confined to wheelchair (when used), who need to use electric PMV's for transportation, and also need to load and unload such PMV's to places such as a trunk of a vehicle, a buss, an airplane, ramps and trucks. If any of such PMV's claim to be portable or collapsible. For example, one advertisement of such PMV's for handicap people shows the PMV's taken apart to five or six major parts, whereby each part weighs between thirty (30) to fifty (50) pounds, claiming “easy assembly and disassembly”, or “easy loading and unloading” onto to a car trunk. Well, note the driver is basically a disabled person. Said is similar to the vehicle described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,739.
These types of PMV's, mostly used by severely medically impaired people, include accessories to operate the scooters, such as front steering wheel, steering handle, switch, steering column (main column connecting the handles to the base), front wheel mount, motor, control box, base platform, rear wheel(s), suspensions and axles. Note again that none of these scooters can be used for the purpose of the scoter subject to this new invention.
In comparison to the high speed scooters, mote personal mobility vehicle, U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,337 B1, which is generally a handicap scooter with three wheels, whereby a person with limited mobility sits on a chair, and drives the scooter, in a slow speed. For those reasons and intended usage, such category scooters are labeled as personal mobility vehicles with front and often rear chassis, having all elements of making the scooter drives powered by a battery, an electric motor, and steering handles.
Nevertheless, all of these scooters (or personal mobility vehicles) are heavy, cannot be disassembled and assembled, and even if some do, as cited here, each part is very heavy, complicated, and makes the transfer of the scooter onto a car trunk or any other place impossible by one person, especially that those PMV's are made and intended for people with disability.
In addition, in the category of such scooters and personal transporter, it is fair to mention some folding electric scooters, such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,077,229 B2, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,451,848 B2, which are generally folding portable scooters, which, by other patents, may have two (2) or three (3) wheels. For such scooters, folding them does not change the weight and the limitation already described for all other scooters, in addition to being high speed vehicles. In fact, those are disadvantages to be discussed in the summary part.
Years later, U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,337 introduced, in fact, same type of PMV for people with disability, having dual chassis, with emphasize on a chassis and seat locking means. Again, improvements of such PMV's for such specific usage is limited to the population targeted, which is not the group of people the invention presented here suggests. Therefore, the conclusion is that, despite efforts, none of the patents provided substantial multiple improvements in one PMV to make it ideal for use by the population targeted by the new invention.
For these and other reasons, this new invention is aimed to resolve and responds to numerous disadvantages of the prior art, presenting multiple novel, significant advantages and improvements a one single PMV, which makes the invention presented here the most revolutionary, and the utmost standing personal mobility vehicle for millions who need to use it.
Those people are not aware of the existence of such vehicle, thereby they are not able to enjoy its efficiency, and make their livelihood much better. This subject is broadly discussed in the following part of the SPECIFICATION